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''Final Straw'' is the third studio album and major-label debut by Northern Irish–Scottish
alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band
Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland, consisting of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), and Johnny McDaid (piano, guitar, keyboards, backi ...
, released on 4 August 2003 in the United Kingdom and in 2004 in the United States. The album is notable for bringing the band their first mainstream success outside of their native countries of Northern Ireland and Scotland. In the 14 months following its release, a total of 5 singles were drawn from it. It is their first album to feature lead guitarist
Nathan Connolly Nathan Connolly (born 20 January 1981) is a Northern Irish musician, who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Snow Patrol. Early life Connolly, who was born in Belfast, sang for a gospel church c ...
and their last with bassist
Mark McClelland Mark Peter McClelland (born 30 March 1976) is a Northern Irish musician known best as the former bass guitarist of the band Snow Patrol. McClelland is a recipient of the Ivor Novello Award for his work on the album ''Final Straw''. He is now th ...
. The album was re-released in the UK in 2004 with two extra tracks, before being exported to the US (without the bonus tracks). The album was also released on SACD and
DualDisc The DualDisc is a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including MJJ Productions Inc., EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group ...
with 5.1 Surround mixes. A 20th anniversary edition was released on 4 August 2023, 20 years after the album's original release.


Background

The band's A&R representative Jim Chancellor explained the reasons for choosing rock producer
Jacknife Lee Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including the Cars, U2, R.E.M., the Killers, Robbie Williams, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, AFI, the Hives, Weezer, One Direc ...
to oversee the record by saying, "I wanted a record for them that was bigger and bolder and a lot different than their previous records. I wanted them to make a more of a rock album than an indie record." Chancellor, Lee and the band chose fifteen songs to start working on out of an original pool of 24. Critical to the new direction was Lightbody's development into a more rounded songwriter. "They played us some songs which were not indie. There were a couple of pop songs and then "
Run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...
", which is an enormous emotional rollercoaster of a track," said Chancellor.


Recording and composition

During the first couple of weeks in the studio the band found it quite difficult to adapt from an 'indie'-oriented sound to a more commercially viable
pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
sound. Producer Lee offered constructive suggestions about how to both simplify their songs and augment them with other sounds such as strings, and Snow Patrol proved very receptive to his advice. According to Chancellor, "Some bands tend to be more defensive about what goes on in the studio. Snow Patrol weren't. They were very much like, 'Yeah, we really want to be successful this time.'" The lyrics, all written by Lightbody are about failing relationships and break-ups. They were inspired by his personal experiences. Quinn, his longtime friend, says that he knows who Lightbody sings about in those songs. The lyrics deal with the themes of relationships and politics. Lightbody has said that his "finally learn ngto write a chorus" was the key to the album's success. Guitarist
Nathan Connolly Nathan Connolly (born 20 January 1981) is a Northern Irish musician, who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Snow Patrol. Early life Connolly, who was born in Belfast, sang for a gospel church c ...
joined the band during the recording sessions. He did not contribute much, as the whole album had already been demoed. He commented that he found it easy to start writing and sharing his ideas with the rest of the band, as he had a good relationship with the band before being a member. The album's music incorporates distorted guitar,
feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...
styles, and the vocals are gritty. The band's sound on the album was described as being a "cross between the sullen
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...
of
Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...
and the more punchy
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
moments of
Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977, becoming best known internationally for their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 ...
and the
Pixies Pixies may refer to: * Plural of Pixie * Pixies (band) The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim ...
. Reviewing the album, ''Pitchfork'' described the performances as being based around "rigid, unwavering tempos that approximate dance music," created through looped sections of playing augmented with electronics. The first song, "
How to Be Dead "How to Be Dead" is a song by Northern Irish–Scottish alternative rock band Snow Patrol, released on 25 October 2004 as the fourth and final single of their third album, ''Final Straw'' (2003). The single's release was slightly remixed by Chris ...
", introduces this sound with extensive use of drum machine programming.


Release and reception

''Final Straw'' received generally positive reviews from critics. According to
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the album received a weighted mean review score of 73 out of 100 based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Before repromotion of the album, sales reached 20,000 copies.


Track listing

*The AOL sessions feature frontman Gary Lightbody & lead guitarist Nathan Connolly being interviewed, and performing an acoustic rendition of "Run". *The dualdisc version does not include the UK bonus tracks.


Personnel

Snow Patrol *
Gary Lightbody Gareth John Lightbody (born 15 June 1976) is a Northern Irish musician. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He has also founded the musical supergroups the Reindeer Section and T ...
– vocals, guitar,
glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...
, backing vocals, keyboards *
Nathan Connolly Nathan Connolly (born 20 January 1981) is a Northern Irish musician, who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Snow Patrol. Early life Connolly, who was born in Belfast, sang for a gospel church c ...
– guitar, backing vocals *
Mark McClelland Mark Peter McClelland (born 30 March 1976) is a Northern Irish musician known best as the former bass guitarist of the band Snow Patrol. McClelland is a recipient of the Ivor Novello Award for his work on the album ''Final Straw''. He is now th ...
– bass guitar, keyboards *
Jonny Quinn Jonathan Graham Quinn (born 26 February 1972) is a Northern Irish musician, best known as the former drummer for alternative rock band Snow Patrol, and was previously a member of bands like The Mighty Fall, The New Brontes and Disraeli Gears. As ...
– drums Other personnel *Stephen Marcussen – mastering *Louie Teran – mastering *
Iain Archer Iain Archer is a Northern Irish writer, producer, singer and songwriter from Bangor. He is a two-time Ivor Novello Award winner, winning the 2004 Album Award – ''Final Straw'' by Snow Patrol and Most Performed Work in 2016 for Grammy nominat ...
– background vocals (on track 12) *Bruce White – viola *James Banbury – piano, strings, cello *Fiona McCapra – violin *Ben Georgiades –
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
*Dan Swift – engineer *
Jacknife Lee Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including the Cars, U2, R.E.M., the Killers, Robbie Williams, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, AFI, the Hives, Weezer, One Direc ...
producer, mixing *Phil Tyreman – assistant engineer *Ian Dowling – assistant engineer *Mike Nelson – mixing *Jeff McLaughlin – assistant *
Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic range compression for molding mixes that ...
– mixing


Charts


Certifications


References

{{Authority control 2003 albums Snow Patrol albums Albums produced by Jacknife Lee Fiction Records albums A&M Records albums